Clark at Pukekohe

I saw recently, either a video of an interview, or some on-line comments regarding JC taking a particular high speed corner/kink at this racetrack, I guess about the mid 60's Tasman series. It may have been during a Peter Windsor video, or perhaps come comments from Frank Matich, or some knowledgeable journalist.

Anyway, the jist of the comments was how Clark, unlike the rest (Hill, Stewart, Brabham, Amon etc.) was "much bigger than the car". It was evident from the comments that this was something special to see.

I wondered whether there was any grainy old film out there that might show us the maestro at his best at that location. All too many of his exploits looked laid back and effortless - a joy to see in itself, but something to really distinguish his control in extremis compared to the opposition would be even better to watch.

There was a big issue with these quick cars and the kink at Lakeside, Clark was the first to go through there flat. The race reports made a big thing of it.

The following year the BRMs were here and Stewart sounded to be going through flat and Hill was clearly lifting off. I approached Graham and asked him about it and he went to great pains to explain to me...

"Jackie is just rolling off the throttle, so it doesn't sound like he's backed off. Just rolling off the throttle..."

Well, it was Graham's party the next night and I was there, so I can't complain about any of it.